Hola
Just got back from my week long "vacation", tired to the bone and completely in the need for a vacation to recover from my trip. I traveled approximately 1200 miles by car over 6 days, and flew for a total of 19 hours cross country from the Pacific to the Atlantic and back, but all said and done it was one of the best trips that I have ever made. The memories and experiences that I took back will certainly provide much needed food for thought through the last bit of the application season.
A quick recap before I crash after what has been a 20 hour day. I visited three schools, Cornell, Wharton and Harvard. Each had something really special to offer the prospective student and promised a completely different experience than its competitors. Till now I was of the opinion that school visits were not really important and that you need to visit a school only after you get admitted to it. Now, I have no hesitation in saying I was wrong and if someone out there hasn't applied to their schools as yet, I strongly urge a school visit. As I mentioned earlier, each school has something uniquely specially and different to offer and while most people might think that they can fit into each schools persona, I believe that they are better suited to some schools over others. This is akin to a marriage, while there might be several people of the opposite (and in some cases the same) sex that will make you happy, there is probably only one person who will make you feel complete. You may thing I am being overly dramatic, but I kid you not when I say, each school spoke to me in different ways. This speech just doesn't come through over the internet or brochure, regardless of the shiny photographs.
My impressions of the trip will probably require a much larger post, but here are a couple of quick single word takeaways:
1. Cornell - Parker Center - Simply bloody amazing. A tremendous resource for students planning to go into banking. I was extremely pleased to see how much the school was ready to invest in facilities for the students.
2. Harvard - Campus - Beautiful on an overcast rainy day, I can only imagine how it must look in spring. The business school is like a school within a school, with a separate campus and all the trappings of the huge endowment it garners every year.
3. Wharton - People - Warm, kind and very smart. From the admissions office to the students, each of whom was genuinely interested in making me feel at home, answering all my inane questions with patience.
With that short note, I will leave you with a couple of pictures I took of the various schools. I still haven't caught up with all the news/activities/emails/messages that I missed out of due to the week long lack of internet connectivity and time. Many thanks to the kind people who left me messages wishing me well. And I apologize to PowerYogi and IwhoElse, both of whom I was supposed to meet up during my trip, but couldn't do so. I will be sending you both emails later tomorrow.
Sage Hall
UPenn
HBS
A quick recap before I crash after what has been a 20 hour day. I visited three schools, Cornell, Wharton and Harvard. Each had something really special to offer the prospective student and promised a completely different experience than its competitors. Till now I was of the opinion that school visits were not really important and that you need to visit a school only after you get admitted to it. Now, I have no hesitation in saying I was wrong and if someone out there hasn't applied to their schools as yet, I strongly urge a school visit. As I mentioned earlier, each school has something uniquely specially and different to offer and while most people might think that they can fit into each schools persona, I believe that they are better suited to some schools over others. This is akin to a marriage, while there might be several people of the opposite (and in some cases the same) sex that will make you happy, there is probably only one person who will make you feel complete. You may thing I am being overly dramatic, but I kid you not when I say, each school spoke to me in different ways. This speech just doesn't come through over the internet or brochure, regardless of the shiny photographs.
My impressions of the trip will probably require a much larger post, but here are a couple of quick single word takeaways:
1. Cornell - Parker Center - Simply bloody amazing. A tremendous resource for students planning to go into banking. I was extremely pleased to see how much the school was ready to invest in facilities for the students.
2. Harvard - Campus - Beautiful on an overcast rainy day, I can only imagine how it must look in spring. The business school is like a school within a school, with a separate campus and all the trappings of the huge endowment it garners every year.
3. Wharton - People - Warm, kind and very smart. From the admissions office to the students, each of whom was genuinely interested in making me feel at home, answering all my inane questions with patience.
With that short note, I will leave you with a couple of pictures I took of the various schools. I still haven't caught up with all the news/activities/emails/messages that I missed out of due to the week long lack of internet connectivity and time. Many thanks to the kind people who left me messages wishing me well. And I apologize to PowerYogi and IwhoElse, both of whom I was supposed to meet up during my trip, but couldn't do so. I will be sending you both emails later tomorrow.
Sage Hall
UPenn
HBS
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